A LETTER from one of the most infamous survivors of the sinking of the Titanic on April 15, 1912, is to be auctioned in New York later this month.

It was written by the secretary of Scottish landowner Sir Cosmo Duff-Gordon, who was accused of paying a huge bribe to ensure his party escaped the stricken cruise ship as 1,514 others drowned.

Duff-Gordon, his fashion designer wife Lady Lucy, their secretary Mabel Francatelli and two friends were among only 12 wealthy passengers who were rowed to safety on the hastily-launched Lifeboat Number One, which had a capacity of 40.

The aristocratic couple became the only Titanic survivors to be questioned by Scotland Yard detectives on their return to the UK. Duff-Gordon faced lifelong shame after being branded a coward who pushed aside the policy of “women and children first” to save his own skin.

Astonishingly, the baronet did admit promising money to the lifeboat crew but denied it was a bribe. He was later exonerated by a British Board of Trade inquiry into the disaster, which accepted that the cash was a “charitable donation”.

Now for the first time a letter relating to the scandal, which later turned Duff-Gordon into a bitter semi-recluse, is to go under the hammer at an auction of Titanic artefacts on September 30.

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SHAME: Sir Cosmo Duff-Gordon whose ‘bribe’ saved his party

Lion Heart Autographs expects the letter, written by Mabel Francatelli to New Yorker Abraham Lincoln Salomon, a fellow evacuee on Lifeboat One, to fetch at least £4,000.

In the letter Francatelli, who was not questioned by police, wrote: “We do hope you have now quite recovered from the terrible experience. I am afraid our nerves are still bad, as we had such trouble and anxiety added to our already awful experience by the very unjust inquiry when we arrived in London.”

The letter’s still-intact envelope is postmarked October 12, 1912, six months after the disaster.

It was addressed to Salomon at 345 Broadway, New York. Francatelli’s three hand-written pages are on notepaper from the city’s Plaza Hotel.

The most expensive lot at the auction is likely to be a lunch menu for first-class passengers, dated the day before Titanic struck a giant iceberg and sank on its maiden voyage.

The menu, coincidentally saved by business tycoon Salomon and now being sold by his descendants, features delicacies of the day including fi llets of brill, veal and ham pie, roast beef and Cumberland ham.

It is signed in pencil on the back by another first-class passenger, Isaac Frauenthal, who is believed to have dined with Salomon that day. Twenty four hours later, Frauenthal also became a survivor after being rescued in Lifeboat Five.